New Again: a handcrafted collection from Designer Rugs

Recalling the craftsmanship of handmade knitwear handed down through generations, Petrina Turner’s collaboration with Designer Rugs is a full circle moment. After beginning her design career over 20 years ago in the design and production team at Designer Rugs, Petrina has been creating bespoke rugs ever since, and these form the centrepiece for many her interior design projects.

“I believe you should celebrate everything… cherish those around you… be grateful. The joy in life is in the experiences we share and the stories we tell.” Petrina says

The four rugs in the New Again collection are the High Tea. Evelyn, Mavis and Purls of Wisdom; each inspired by a different memory from Petrina’s familial past.

“My earliest childhood memories include seeing my mum’s beautiful creations as a talented tailoress, and my tiny fingers sewing jewel-like buttons onto discarded scraps of fabric with coloured thread as she worked,” says Petrina on the inspiration behind High Tea, “I also have some of her first stitched pieces from when she was a girl. It sparked a love of all things stitched including a vintage cross-stitched tablecloth that I picked up from a tiny treasure trove many years ago. It’s many tea stains are testament to my love of sharing stories with friends and family over a beautifully set table and high tea”

The Evelyn design was inspired by Petrina’s paternal grandmother’s crocheted doily. “I wanted to give new life to her beautiful handiwork and bring it into the current day” she says. It was her maternal grandma’s floral paintings and tapestries that drove the design of the Mavis rug, emblazoned with a vintage floral design.

Petrina and her family’s love of yarn and knitting drove the final New Again design, the Purls of Wisdom, “We all have fond memories of hand-knitted jumpers and scarves made with love by a favourite aunt or grandmother and my childhood was no different. From a long line of talented yarn lovers, I was taught from a young age to knit, crochet and knit from my mum and many aunties”